Prince Charles and Camilla in chopper nightmare as pilot fought to land helicopter

FLIGHT FRIGHT: Camilla and Charles' helicopter had a near miss [GETTY]

A report released by air accident investigators yesterday revealed how their chopper lurched to the right.

Their pilot also had trouble going left and his desperate attempts to correct the problems had no effect.

He was forced to radio through that he was facing an emergency.

The captain, 53, lost control of the Sikorsky S-76C as it came into Denham aerodrome, Bucks, while carrying the royal pair and four other passengers.

Charles and Camilla were heading to an engagement at the Hay-on-Wye Festival in Wales at the time.

They were told the two-man crew would carry out an emergency running landing.

FESTIVAL: The royal couple were on their way to an engagement in Hay-on-Wye [GETTY]

“A royal source described it as “quite a hairy incident” that ended without injury”

A royal source described it as “quite a hairy incident” that ended without injury on May 23 last year.

Charles, 65, and Camilla, 66, travelled on to Hay by car, arriving around three hours behind schedule. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said the fault was later traced to the splitting of a metal ball within a system which helps control the chopper’s steering.

The report said the ball was “most likely to have fractured during the flight from London to Denham”.

The AAIB went on: “A detailed metallurgical analysis of the ball by the (USA) National Transportation Safety Board is continuing.

“However, the most likely cause of the ball fracture was an anomaly in its heat treatment process during manufacture.”

Since the incident the helicopter part which holds the ball has been replaced.